


Later that night

by numbika



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: My First Work in This Fandom, The Author Regrets Everything, angst without happy ending, based on the games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 00:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19161970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/numbika/pseuds/numbika
Summary: "The Grand Re-opening. He knew it will take a lot of work, but he didn't think every day would be this stressful before the restaurant opened again. He wanted to supervise and check every employee and animatronic in the restaurants to make sure he can wash the stains of the past clean."And an old friend came back to say hi.





	Later that night

**Author's Note:**

> Kinda tried to follow the timeline of MatPat, but I actually lost the track. The story based on when William was probably kicked out from the restaurant, and the Puppet comes in to the game.

The muffled noises of happy children filtered trough the walls of the small room. The realization that although the kids were shouting and screaming, they were doing so in joy, eased the tightness of Henry-s chest. He lowered his shoulders, breathing out. The _Grand Re-opening_. He knew it will take a lot of work, but he didn't think every day would be this stressful before the restaurant opened again. He wanted to supervise and check every employee and animatronic in the restaurants to make sure he can wash the stains of the past clean.

He wiped his forehead in his sleeve as he checked through the cameras. 'We need to improve the ventilation system', he quickly noted this in a small notebook on the desk while with his other hand he drummed at the edge of the camera's control panel. Everything went well, everything in every room happened the way it had to happen, as it had been imagined years ago, as _they_ imagined it.

The children made a shouting match from watching Freddy and his friends. The animatronics were singing and dancing from one song to another. At the tables the parents talked to each other allowing themselves to keep only half of their eyes on the kids. Everything happened as it should, no one remembered that incidents a few years ago.

He checked on the cameras again and sighed when Charlotte appeared in one of the corridors, she who was talking with two older girls. The green bracelet was still on his daughters' wrist, at this sight Henry allowed himself to loosen his necktie a little. He was proud of his daughter to keep the bracelet on and always staying in the view of the cameras or the staff.

Others may have forgotten the past, but Henry remembered it all too well. At night, the faces of the parents haunted him, begging him to help them find their lost children. The photo-s of the five kids were forever burned into his memory just like the five names; Cassidie, Susie, Jeremy, Fritz and Gabriel. Five innocent souls, who now, at least Henry's hoped with all his heart, rest in peace in some better place.

However, peace did not last long for Henry. Just right up to the moment when one of his employees, Rosie appeared in one of the cameras. She was following an unexpected visitor while trying to force his face to remain relaxed. William Afton walked like he was at home through the corridors. Henry hadn't noticed how his left hand was clenched in a fist. Aside the nervousness, his buried had risen as Afton smiled at one of the cameras.

They hadn't met him for a long time, they barely kept contact with each other. William was completely changed by the mourning, the always enthusiastic and charismatic man turned inward letting the pain to eat away inside him. Henry wasn't sure he wanted to know what he had become after that, but he knew he was selfish when he put his restaurant in front of his friend. At least, in the darkness of the night he often blamed himself for all that happened, and after the court hearing, he promised himself that if he got a chance to start again, he will create the safest place in the world.

He stood up, hurrying out of the guard room, almost running trough the corridors when he was sure no one could see him. He knew exactly where to go, he knew the whole building like the palm of his hand. Cutting through one of the larger hall, he had to force the smile so as to not alert the children or their parents. He stopped in the doorway, a few steps away from Afton.

"Henry." the man wore a purple shirt, a dark-blue jacket and worn-out jeans. At first glance, he saw that the clothes were too big for him, and when Henry looked up at his former friend's face he saw the man's much leaner features. Afton's smile was empty, but in his eyes there was a disquieting glint that Henry couldn’t help but notice.

"Sir, I tried to stop him but-" Rosie breathed heavily as she arrived between the two men. Her red hair was messy and all over and her nameplate on his white blouse was skewed a little.

"It's okay, Rosie." He didn't take his eyes off from Afton, "Let's talk in my office." The statement made it clear that there was no space for argument.

Afton, still smiling, nodded and walked after him.

Henry only started to speak after he closed the door and walked behind his table.

"What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, William ran his gaze around in the room. He looked at the smaller wooden table in the middle, and the computer on it. On the two sides, a cabinet tall enough to reach the ceiling, with shelves full of folders with official papers in them. He too remembered how much problems the disappearances have caused. From the corner of his eyes he noticed a photo on the table, on it Henry and Charlotte smiling happily, sitting side by side on a tree bench. Charlotte was clutching a Freddy plush. The picture must have been made not so long ago. William was surprised by the sudden pang of pain within his heart. He thought he'd been over the mourning, and it was replaced by a different feeling.

_Elizabeth._

"William? Don't make me to throw you out, no former employee should be here."

"But I've never been just a simple employee, have I?" The empty cold smile returned to Afton's face.

"You were also among the suspects."

Henry stopped at that sentence, but he could see in the eyes of his former friend that he knew what was the continuation. _As I was._

William shrugged, shaking off the memories of the past. "As we all did, but nothing came out of it. The accusations were dropped, the cases were closed, and as I see people are beginning to forget what happened which is good for the business. You managed to smooth things over, don’t you?"

"Enough." Henry slipped his hands into his pockets. He didn't want to think about the past, on the contrary, he would have done anything to forget it. The names, the faces, the events, everything. He only wanted to start again. He wanted everything to be like when the two of them signed that first contract. He wanted to find that hopeful feeling, no matter what, but deep down he already knew it was impossible. So he clung to something else.

He glanced at the photo for a moment, as if trying to protect the only thing in his life that gave him strength, the thig what the same time was his greatest weakness. He wanted more and more to get over this conversation and be with his daughter again. To protect her from everything. He had to gather all his strength to look at Afton, and speak with the man, but he was faster.

"I miss them." William sounded somehow broken, he didn’t look at Henry, he fixated firmly on the wall behind him. "Sometimes...sometimes I hear their laughter when I'm in my working room."

Henry felt his throat getting dry and the room grew smaller, as if the walls were trying to suffocate him.

"I...I know this was my fault Henry, I wasn't a good professional, I didn't work out the details, I didn't think about all the options...I wasn't a good father."

"William-"

"No," his friend shook his head, "don't pity me, please. I've got enough of everybody's pity for a life time."

"All right. But why are you here? You told me you didn't want to work in the restaurant, that you never want to deal with animatronics again, and that you don't want to see me anymore."

Afton nodded slightly, "I know what I said, but...that is the only thing I am good at." he spread his arms out. "I don’t have any other trade, building robots is my life and even after...after losing Elisabeth and losing Michael, I dream about them. How to fix them, how to create them...do you understand what I'm talking about?"

Henry looked into his friend's eyes, for a brief moment he believed he was telling the truth. But still...he wasn't sure who he was talking about at the end of his sentence.

"Yes, I think I know what you're talking about William, but…" he squeezed his arms for a moment. "I can only say what I said before, you need to look for a doctor who will help you move on and live your life. Your family needs you, you are not alone. However, you gave up our work and the Freddy franchise."

Cold silence descended on the room.

Henry took a few steps toward the door. All this, has to end. He knew he made the right decision.

"What?" William firstly just chuckled at, but as the reality enveloped him, and then shattered his laughter was completely transformed. Henry was almost certain now that his friend had died after the loss of his two children, but he had been too much of a coward so far to face what was left behind.

"So, after I have lost everything, you destroy that little ray of hope I've clung onto so far?" Afton took a step toward, Henry whose features were hardened.

"I'm sorry, William. You have to look for something else, our time working together is over."

Afton's body tensed like a string, and for a few moments Henry thought he will attack him. But then, the familiar empty smile spread on his face, his eyes glinting with something dark once again. "I understand."

"Please...leave the building and don't come back. The previous employees are all banned."

"I understand. Well, good luck in the future then Henry." William turned his back toward the door. His hand was now on the door handle when Henry's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"You did it?"

The question was simple, just like the answer. Yet, Henry's heartbeat became faster. In his mind, he asked the question countless times already, especially when the images of the missing children returned to his mind in his sleepless nights, but he never felt strong enough to do it. He was a coward, he barely managed to stop his body from trembling in anxiety. He asked almost involuntarily, something inside him whispered to him, something important has changed now. His voice was weak and must have been pretty pathetic as even he noticed the tremble of it.

Years passed while William glanced back over his shoulder. His smile was now full of life, just like his eyes were. A kind of euphoric satisfaction radiated from the man, something which should not have been factored into this situation.

Henry's heart missed beat.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Daddy?"

William's features softened and he opened the door before Henry could say anything else.

At the doorway stood the barely 8-year-old Charlotte.

"Uncle William?"

_Of course, she remembers him,_ ran through Henry's brain in a few seconds until his daughter run up to him.

"Oh, hello little girl." William nodded to her, much too friendly, and his smile widened when he glanced at Henry.

"Daddy?" Charlotte hugged her father's neck as he cradled her in his arms, lifting her up.

"Hey, darling. What's the matter?" His father smiled his most sincere smile as he stepped a couple of steps away from the watching Afton.

"Just...Annabella said her mom told me not to go near Freddy because they were eating children! But I said Freddy was friendly and she is wrong! And Annabella said her mom was right because moms are always right, and I cant be right...because I don't...and that I..." Charlotte hid his face into his father's neck slowly sniffing.

"My dear, I'm so sorry you had to listen to it all. That girl is mistaken, Freddy would never ever hurt you, if somebody then I know it. I'm not just your dad, but I made them, so no matter what anyone says, they are wrong! They could never hurt you, my dear. "

"Mh..."

"Actually, they're all watching over you, keeping you safe." Henry tried to shut the face of the smiling William from his head and focus only on his daughter. "Should I ask Rosie to give you a slice of cake, my princess?" Henry slowly caressed Charlotte's back. She nodded a tiny nod at the mention of a cake. The man gave a tiny kiss on his daughter's hair.

"Well, better if I go, I see there is a family crisis. I'm glad that we met Henry…take care and you too little girl."

Charlotte glanced at Afton and gently waved at him.

"Farewell, William. Say hi to Isabelle for me."

William stopped in his tracks.

"Sure." He monotonically walked out of the room.

Henry watched as he closed the door behind him, then hugged his daughter even closer and didn't let her go for a long time.

_Later that night_

 

Autumn was true to its nature and the chilly, windy afternoon was washed away by the sudden storm. By the evening it the world was covered in an opaque curtain of water. Even inside in the small pauses between the songs, you could hear the drumming of the raindrops on the roof. However, the pizzeria's staff had no time to notice this, as the restaurant was packed full.

Officially they only scheduled to celebrate one young boy's twelfth birthday, but two other larger families also unexpectedly arrived to the restaurant. The happy shouting and rabble rousing of the children sometimes suppressed any other noise. Rosie had some difficulty trying to outshout the kids. There were pizza orders, not to mention they had to get two birthday cakes. Henry's thanked the gods that he still had a couple of contacts to call up to help and so everyone's big day was saved.

Most of the time Henry walked down the corridors and made phone calls. He told Timothy and Jack that somebody always have to be in the security room, but after that both of them were required to keep an eye on the excited children. There were things that should not be repeated, things that he shouldn’t have let happen in the first time.

Half an hour before closing, Henry loosened his neck tie while holding two paper plates with slices of pizza on them. As he walked forward, looking into in each room, he started walking faster and faster when he stumbled upon Rosie.

"Rosie, have you seen Charlie?"

The young woman adjusted her unruly hair while pausing for a few moments. "If I remember correctly she was playing near Puppet, but I don't know..." She glanced around to see if something was going to jog her memory." The last time I saw her she was...Is something wrong, sir?"

Henry didn’t wait for her to finish the question; he was already on his way. His anxiety appeared out of nowhere, and his feet apparently raced against it. He didn't even notice the security guard calling him.

_Charlotte._

"Sir, the cameras!"

"What about them?"

"The recording stopped twenty minutes ago when the power went off and the system restarted. The recording didn't started up again!"

"Show me!"

The two of them made their way into the security room. Timothy let his employer go in before him to watch the recordings himself. Henry first checked the camera system. Every camera showed a black screen, Henry cursed the sky that he didn’t react faster. The children were frightened and the parents became nervous, they had to ensure their guests that everything was fine, he had to check the animatronics and instruct his employees. Whatever happened, there was the Puppet, he knew the robot was one of a kind, it worked differently and took care of his daughter, even when he was otherwise occupied.

In addition, the space was secured in the event of a lightning strike or a power outage. He plunged his fingers firmly into his hair and scanned the recording from twenty minutes ago.  He had to let go of his har and put his hand on the table to keep himself steady.

The restaurant had three entrances and exits, two of which were in continuous use, and one was an emergency exit in the event of a fire. The puppet was situated on the side of that exit, Henry designed and oversaw this placement so that the animatronic not only could monitor his surroundings inside the building, but also, if necessary, he could immediately notify to him if his daughter left the building. Twenty minutes ago he was in place and Charlotte next to it. He sat quietly and seemed to talk to the inanimate box and the animatronic inside it, and then the lightning struck and the recording was interrupted.

"I want you to make a backup of the recordings on a separate disc." Henry glanced at the security guard only for a second. He was afraid to look at him, then he realized he was blaming him. Him too.

"Yes. I'm already taking action."

"And call the camera operator, I want to know why they are stopped recording! These damn things should have work even in the event of a power outage!"

"But it's eight p.m., sir, and Saturday."

"Just do as I said!" The door was slammed in at the same time as the sound of a thunder split the sky.

He didn't care about the parents, or the kids anymore when he hurried across the corridors. The restaurant or the Freddy Fazbear was no longer important, just to get to her daughter hug her and go home with her. The happy laughter around him was almost unbearable, as he tried to push away the darker and darker thoughts that were snarling at him from the back of his mind. The same conversation returned to him echoing in his head. That is, one sentence. One question.

_You did it?_

He turned down the corridor leading to the emergency exit and his heart missed a beat when he noticed the open gift box. The huge white coloured container was decorated with a red line, as if it were wrapped around with a ribbon and now the top of it was lying on the ground. Henry's heartbeat became even more erratic when he saw that the door beside it was ajar.

He moved almost subconsciously, tearing open the door at the same time as a flash of lightning strealed across the sky blinding him for a few seconds. Moments later, the sound, as if something have exploded high up in the clouds, reached him. Stepping out to be under the open sky, the rain hit his skin like cold needles, everywhere where his body was not covered by his clothes. After a few steps, his greying hair matted on his head. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for in the light of the neighboring building.

There was a bookstore next to the restaurant, which was already preparing for closing time. In the alley section between the two buildings, there was only one street lamp, which's bulb was flashing like an ailing firefly. He started going down the road, still clutching the now soaking wet paper plates in his left hand. One of the pizza slices slipped of onto the asphalt as an unrecognizable mass. When Henry glanced after it, he discovered tire tracks in the dirt. The traces turned from the main road running alongside the building, and continued in the alleyway across the street. He started following the tracks, but he didn’t have to walk long.

A lighting struck, not far from him, illuminating the alley.

Charlotte's blood mixed with the mud and it gathered into a black stream in one of the wheel tracks. She laid on her belly motionless, she didn't wake up when her father took her in his arms and called her name. She didn't open her eyes when his father begged her to do so. Her heart beat no longer but his clothes were brilliant red on his chest. She didn’t answer, no matter how hard his father cried.

Charlotte left his vessel, and found a new one, but even if Henry would have been able to see something like that, he wouldn't have believed it.

The Puppet, the girl's guardian, laid on the ground beside them. It should have to kept her from wandering away, and getting into trouble. There was a slight glow in the animatronics eye, when another flash of lighting highlighted its shape from the darkness.


End file.
